Battle of Piedimonte Matese

The Battle of Piedimonte Matese (23 January 1500) was a major battle of the Italian Wars which saw the defeat of a French army of 12,000 troops under Junien de Brabant by a Papal army of 10,000 troops under Bonus di Roma. The French suffered 9,890 losses, while 4,850 Papal States troops were killed.

Background
The Kingdom of France and the Papal States were allies and enemies many times during the Italian Wars, with their allegiances changing every few months as situations changed. In 1500, France's army in Italy fought with Spain over the ownership of the Kingdom of Naples, and the French sent more troops to Naples to assist the French armies in Naples. The Papal States, led by Pope Alexander VI, declared war on France and sent Bonus di Roma and 10,000 troops to attack Junien de Brabant's army of 12,000 troops.

Battle
The Papal army consisted of many regiments of arquebusiers and Swiss Guard pikemen, in addition to a regiment of condotierri and some heavy cavalry. Two mortars were present in the battle, but they were not used in excess during the battle. The French had four regiments of gendarmes, and most of their army was composed of pikemen.

The French army launched an attack on the Papal army, who positioned the arquebusiers at the front line. The Papal troops inflicted heavy losses on the attacking French cavalry, and although the French cavalry overwhelmed some regiments of arquebusiers, the Papal pikemen charged in and repelled the cavalry. Papal arquebusiers fired out on the French infantrymen, repelling them as they charged without cover, and Junien was captured. The Papal troops gave him wine and let him watch as his army was defeated.